By Nepomuceno Malaluan*

(The article first appears in the Yellow Pad column of the BusinessWorld, Vol. XXI, No. 234 on Monday, June 30, 2008. It is based on the author's comments delivered during the DRTS Forum on Oil and Power.)

We consumers are all feeling the pinch of rising prices. For May 2008, the inflation rate year- on-year shot up to 9.6%, compared to 2.4% last year. Such drastic increase has been due in large part, directly and indirectly, to the rise in petroleum prices and the high cost of electricity.

Directly, as a commodity group, inflation for fuel, light, and water was 8.2% in May 2008, compared to 4.0% last year. Indirectly, rising energy prices have driven the prices of major commodities upward. Inflation for services was 7.8% for the same period, compared to 1.9% last year. More severely, inflation for food, beverages, and tobacco shot up to 13.7% for May this year, from 2.6% last year.

The poor among us must be feeling the pinch more intensely. For the 4.6 million families (representing 28% of total families) earning under P60,000 per year or under P5,000 per month in 2003, between 6.5 and 7.5% of their expenditures went to fuel, light, and water, compared to 6.0% for the 2.3 million families (14% of total families) earning over P250,000 per year.

Contents:

• PERSPECTIVE:Filipino Families and Government Spending Less on Education
  by Rene Raya
  
• PHOTO OF THE MONTH: Protest Against EU-ASEAN FTA by Sammy Gamboa
  
• DEVELOPMENT BRIEF: Notes on Oil Crisis by Walden Bello
  
• SOCIO ECONOMIC MONITOR: Education by Julie de los Reyes
  
• POLITICAL ROUND UP: Future of Agrarian Reform Hangs in Balance
  by Mary Ann Manahan
  
• UPCOMING EVENTS

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